During the study of the Arabia Terra region, NASA specialists were able to learn more about the history of Mars. As it turned out, billions of years ago, the Red Planet was shaken by volcanic eruptions that did not stop for a long 500 million years.
It is important to understand that these were not just separate explosions, but a whole series of super-eruptions. The researchers write that the amount of gas and lava ejected from just one such volcano would be enough to fill 400 Olympic pools. In this case, the dust that rose would cover part of the planet from the Sun at a distance of thousands of kilometers.
Today, the turbulent youth of Mars is evidenced by calderas, which are massive holes into which an erupting volcano collapsed. Scientists often find similar structures not on Earth, but on the Red Planet they are much larger. It was possible to determine the number of explosions and their power after studying the thickness of the ash. The eruptions are reported to have numbered in the thousands, with the last explosion about 4 billion years ago.
The researchers note that there is also a giant shield volcano in the Arabia Terra region called Olympus Mons. It is 100 times larger than the largest volcano on Earth, but scientists do not yet know why so many supervolcanoes have accumulated in this region.